games and then went to bed at 8:30...and just like my other missionary
friends have said, it seems really weird to be inside at 6 p.m. and
not doing anything.
This past week has been good -- we had 3 member presents this week!
Woohoo. We're getting better. And, one of the lessons, we challenged
our inv. Wilnara to get baptized. It was my first time meeting her,
but it was a pretty awesome commit. She said she would commit to Feb.
22, so we are really excited. She still needs to come to church, but
we are praying we can start teaching her whole family. She is from
Brazil; her husband is Dominican; they are MARRIED (that is a big deal
here!) and have 2 kids. So, I know we can have miracles here if we
work and are obedient. I am excited to see what happens.
We also taught a woman who is preparing to go to the temple on Feb.
21. She is from Barbados. We taught her at the Calderwood's house. It
is definitely a blessing to have President Calderwood and his wife
help with our lessons. We ate dinner with them and Elmie and then
taught her a temple prep lesson, because they don't have it in our
ward right now. I am excited for her too! We have another person who
we have committed to go to the temple on Feb. 14 (both of these are
for endowments) so if all goes as planned...we will have two temple
trips and a baptism next transfer. Now, that would be amazing. I
really look up to my mission president though and his family -- i
learn so much everytime I am around them and feel inspired! Blessed to
be here.
Friday, we received like 10 inches of snow...everything shut down. But
we had a great time shoveling driveways and sidewalks for about 5
hours. Nothing stops us! People thought we were crazy. We're not
crazy. We're missionaries.
Saturday, we had a street sweep and Sis Martinez wanted to be more
confident with fearlessing (contacting people) and she had a mission
to hand out all of her mormon.org cards. It was great fun! We stood on
a street corner and talked to eveyr single person.Then, we walked up
and down one street...4 times..trying to hand out the final 2 cards.
Every single person said no (after 1.5 hours of success). It was just
Satan, but I knew she could complete her goal. And we did! She
said,"I have never been that fearless in my mission!" and I can really
see her desire growing to be more open and talkative to people. She
does want that. It was a really great moment!
I can see changes -- more desires to be obedient in our companionship,
more desires to see miracles, to talk to more people, to work hard, to
use our time wisely.
One other thing this past week that was special -- I posted a story on
my blog from my friend Carter. He was less active for the 5 years I
knew him, until this summer. ANd I have been able to have skype
lessons with him. Well, he has been going back to church for 5 months
now and I can see such a difference in him. He is so much happier. He
asked me if he could write a post on my blog about his conversion
story and his decision to come back. It was a great post. I hope it
inspired or helped someone; many people commented on Facebook about
the link and how inspiring it was. It is amazing to see the
transformation in someone's life when they accept the gospel and when
they accept Jesus as their Savior. Truly, we are nothing in life until
we use the Atonement.
Finally, as I was studying this morning, I started thinking back on
the past 9 months of my mission. I started to think back on the times
of being bold, on bearing witness of the message, and on things I
needed to improve on for the next 9 months. I felt the realization
that my time left is relatively short -- have I become the missionary
the Lord wants? I am still striving, but I felt the need to do more,
to work harder, to be more fearless, more bold. Now is the time to
have more courage. I know that if we look for miracles and WORK for
miracles -- if we prove our faith through obedience -- that the
miracles WILL come. I realized I am not yet the missionary I want to
be; there are many things I want to improve to become more like the
Savior and I have to start now, before my time is up.
So, anyway, long letter...but I love you! Thanks for everything. Happy
Birthday dad! I kind of organized an "inter-district bonding" activity
with one of the neighboring districts because my friend Elder
Martherus (Served with him for 6 months) is in it and it is his
birthday today too. So we are playing Jenga and Clue, eating brownies
and icecream, and socializing. I am glad they are nearby! IT will be a
fun pday...so I must be going!
Until next week,
Hermana Peacock
Oh, and for a fun picture...we are helping this woman in our ward with
family history. She has 8 cats, 2 large pit bulls, and 1 small, blind
dog. In a tiny apartment. You learn a lot on your mission ;) But, this
cat was at least fluffy. I joke with my companions that I am destined
to be a cat lady. THis proves it!
My whole mission on Christmas Eve! :) just to give you perspective of
how many missionaries..we have 260 and last year was about 180.
No comments:
Post a Comment